Abstract
Non-pigmented rapidly growing mycobacteria (NPRGM) are environmental organisms that can be found in several sources. They can cause contamination of samples and cultures (Wallace et al., 1998; LaBombardi et al., 2002) and can also be the cause of human infections. Outbreaks and pseudo-outbreaks due to NPRGM have increasingly been reported in recent times (Wallace et al., 1998), and in many cases, infections caused by these organisms have been associated with contaminated surgical devices and solutions. The main source of contamination is water collected from taps, faucets, fountains, ice, ice machines and plumbing parts in hospitals, Mycobacterium chelonae and Mycobacterium fortuitum being the most frequent NPRGM isolated (Ashford et al., 1997; Cox et al., 1997; Kauppinen et al., 1999; Gillespie et al., 2000). Here we describe a pseudo-outbreak of M. fortuitum, probably due to cross-contamination from a true positive urine specimen, detected in our laboratory.